Sunday 26 July 2009

TLT 10 and 9.

Just a note to say two new short videos have been uploaded.

TLT 9 Suffers from the lens misting up completely on the camera, this leaves a great effect at 1:30 as the sun evapourates the moisture off the lens. However this isn't great for astrophotography, so if you have any potential solutions to the condensation build up please contact me (either comment or email).

TLT9:


TLT10:


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Friday 24 July 2009

Time Lapse Trial 8

New time lapse trial video.


From 0:51 to 0:55 Venus is visable. The focus was off during this video.
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The Boston Big Picture: Solar Eclipse

Just read a great article on the recent solar eclipse in Asia:


The story closely looks at the effects of the eclipse on the population, rather than the astronomy behind it, however the high quality pictures definitely make it worthwhile to see.
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Thursday 23 July 2009

Latest Time Lapse Trial

Last night I was able to get some footage, the weather wasn't brilliant, with almost continuous cloud. However it was a chance to test the system, and it worked flawlessly, with a continuous shoot of over 12 hours, only partly filling the card.

The only thing really of note is that there is a brilliant sunrise imaged in this, the only point that had clear skies!

Well here it is:

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Tuesday 21 July 2009

The Eagle has landed: 40 years on, Apollo 11

This story looks at the moon landings 40th anniversary


As you may have noticed, if you use Google, read the news or generally browse the tech news on the Internet that today is the 40th anniversary of men landing on the moon for the first time.
You probably remember the iconic images and video of the first few steps on the lunar surface, with Neil Armstrong's “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” (quite whether he meant to say “a man” and it slipped his tongue is still a hot debate).
You've probably heard the conspiracy theories, from the “non believers” (see also Attention Seekers). For those I have a few questions:

1.Why was the USSR quiet if NASA didn't land on the moon? Wouldn't they have said something if it was fake?

2.What do you say about the new photos from the LRO? (See above Right)


3.As Apollo 16 astronaut Charlie Duke said “We've been to the Moon nine times. Why would we fake it nine times, if we faked it?

Anyway, this is becoming off topic.
Landing men on the moon may have been a great publicity stunt by NASA and the USA, it was also an amazing achievement for the technology of the time. With such crude instrumentation (by today's standard) NASA managed the almost impossible feat of landing on the moon and bringing them back to earth safely.

Sources and links:


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Sunday 19 July 2009

The ISS (I think)

A photograph of the ISS.

From Astronomy Stills
This streak I believe is the ISS (international Space Station)
Image taken 13/07/09 0005 (BST (GMT+1) camera time not set perfectly)
Camera aimed SE pointing approx 45 to 60 degress upwards (I know I didnt really look closely at this)

The way I tracked this is using Heavens Above (Here).
The details are as follows
Magnitude -3.4
Time above horizon: 2302-2307 (GMT)
Location: Longden ( 52.6521°N, 2.8252°W)

If anyone else has other ideas of the unidentified object feel free to comment.

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Trial videos uploaded

I've uploaded a selection of the better time lapse trial videos I've made, these were made with various different settings, as noted in each of the details. These were mainly made to test the ability of the system and the image settings.

The whole playlist can be viewed from here




I'll be posting some longer term (12 hr+) time lapse videos very soon, however the weather here is not very good. The trials taken so far have been limited to the battery life of the camera (5-6 Hrs). I have recently received an AC adapter for the camera so from now on I will be able to make longer videos (if the weather allows it!).
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Friday 17 July 2009

First Video

Just mentioning that the first Abbott Astronomy video has been posted onto Youtube:

A direct link to the video to playback in HD is HERE


This is one of the trial videos that I've made to test out various settings and ideas.
The camera used is a Canon EOS 400d and it is linked to an automatic shutter trigger (more detailes of my method and equipment will be uploaded later).
The clip is only 15 seconds long, and from about 10 seconds onwards, the moon starts flooding out the picture. At 0.05 the streak of light (going diagonally top right to bottom left) I've identified and believe is the ISS.

General Description: This is one of the first time lapse videos I've made, a small trailer for what's to come.

Camera Info: Canon EOS 400d, 30 sec interval, No Flash auto exposure, 28mm

Video Info: 29.97fps, 372 frames, 1280x720 resolution, No filters

Location: Shrewsbury, UK 13/07/09 2252-0205

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Thursday 16 July 2009

Welcome

Welcome to Abbott Astronomy this is a website created by myself, Michael Abbott.

Currently this site is part of an extended project. However I plan to continue adding information and media far bond the project criteria as for me this site is going to be a hobby to fulfil my interests in astronomy.

This Site is currently in its early stages of development, I will be uploading information, videos, pictures and other media very soon.

In the meantime, watch this space.

Thanks

Michael
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